China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has decided to build the world’s largest solar-powered green hydrogen plant, South China Morning Post reported.
This initiative is part of efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The project in Cook in the south of the region uses renewable energy sources, including solar and wind energy, to produce hydrogen, which can then be liquefied and transported over long distances through gas pipelines, helping to solve the problem of energy shortages in the most populated parts of the country.
The plant is designed to produce 20,000 tons of hydrogen per year. Green hydrogen is produced using electricity from renewable sources to split water into its two constituents, hydrogen and oxygen.
Green hydrogen should replace gray hydrogen, which uses fossil fuels instead of renewables. According to a report by state broadcaster CCTV, it should cut annual carbon dioxide emissions by about 500,000 tons.
The plant is currently under construction, and the solar panels will cover an area of over 630 hectares (1,560 acres), equivalent to the size of over 900 football fields.
Xinjiang is rich in sunlight resources, making it an ideal place to study green hydrogen production. The cost of producing hydrogen here using photovoltaic electrolysis is only 18 yuan ($2.67) per kilogram.
Experts note that it is estimated that in the future, the entire oil industry in China will create a hydrogen market of more than 100 billion yuan ($14.8 billion).